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Heart diseases and strokes were the cause of two-thirds of all deaths in Bulgaria (66 per cent), the highest proportion for this cause of death among all European Union countries, according to figures released by EU statistics agency Eurostat on September 28.

Heart diseases and strokes were the cause of more than one in two of all deaths in Romania (59 per cent), Latvia (57 per cent), Lithuania (56 per cent), Estonia (53 per cent) and Hungary (50 per cent), Eurostat said in a report released to coincide with World Heart Day.

In contrast, diseases of the circulatory system accounted for a quarter or less of all causes of death in Denmark (24 per cent) and France (25 per cent), and for less than a third in the United Kingdom (27 per cent), the Netherlands (28 per cent), Belgium (29 per cent), Ireland and Spain (both 30 per cent) as well as Luxembourg and Portugal (both 31 per cent).

In nearly every EU member state, diseases of the circulatory system killed more women than men. Slovenia (60 per cent), Estonia (59 per cent), Latvia, Lithuania, Austria (all 58 per cent) and (57 per cent) were the EU member states which recorded the largest percentages of women among all fatal heart diseases and strokes in 2014.

Diseases of the circulatory system were the cause of death for 1.833 million people in the European Union (EU) in 2014. This constituted over a third (37 per cent) of all deaths in the EU.

Women (994 600 deaths) were slightly more affected than men (838 100). In addition, fatal heart diseases and strokes were responsible for 40 per cent of all deaths of the EU population aged 65 and over, and for below a quarter (22 per cent) for the younger population (those aged less than 65).

Heart attacks remained the main type of fatal heart diseases in the EU and led to the death of almost 623 100 people (equal to 34 per cent of all deaths caused by diseases of the circulatory system), while strokes killed nearly 422 000 people (23 per cent), Eurostat said.

(Photo: Iwan Beijes/freeimages.com)

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